Book 33 - Chapter 2 – Cutting Across the Public Square (1/2)
Kou Zhong closed his eyes, while secretly aht now he really wished he could eat Mei Xun’s flesh and drink his blood, to vent his resentrand plan destroyed by hih, he did not hear anybody speaking Opening his eyes, Kou Zhong only saw Mei Xun was showing the saber to Chang He, saying, “I bet you that this is the fine steel saber that Jiangnan Lao Dao [the Old Saber of Jiangnan] forged with his own hands; if you don’t believenearly wanted to grab his head; the saber glea in Mei Xun’s hands was definitely not the Moon in the Well Could it be that Wanwan really cared about him that she came earlier to swap his treasured saber with a fake one? He felt as if he had just woken up froht down to sit in the barrel, he se, could you take the saber outside and exaet out butt-naked to put onfollowed Li shi+min and the Heavenly Policy Mansion civilianacross the public square separating the Palace City and the King City Immediately he was du Palace via the back entrance, hence he did not see the scene on this side The Lunar New Year’s Eve banquet has not yet begun, but all preparation was ready
The first thing thatup was a lantern wheel about fifteen zhang high built right in the middle of the public square, wrapped in ing on it, dazzling the vast area of the public square, like seven-colored light tree with ten thousand beaht [of sunrise or sunset], so that the splendor of the colored lanterns arranged on both sides paled in co Tian Gate leading into the Palace City, both left and right, there were firecrackers towers, which height reached twenty zhang He could i firecrackers when these were ignited later; a brilliant, glorious, and warm atmosphere
On both sides of the lantern wheel, es were set up for various types of entertain all the way to the ends of the square, on the east and the west The perforlers, aniic show, ethnic dancers, et cetera, were in all stages of preparation by the elevated platforin their show
The roup of more than a hundred kids, looked to be around ten years old, wearing crie dru aa spear and a shi+eld in his hands There were also twelvein front of the Cheng Tian Gate, waiting
Noticing that Xu Ziling was unable to take his eyes off this group of perfor to perfor off the malicious and evil spirits from the previous year to meet the ‘Great Nuoxi’ [Nuo (exorcis/wiki/Nuo_opera] of the new year, with the children as the ‘Changzi’ [the ghost of soer devour others] TheMin’ [I believe it is a typo; ought to be ‘Fang Xiang shi+’ (ritual exorcist), enwikipediaorg/wiki/Fangxiangshi+] I have seen it once in Luoyang; it was extre ’an for many years, it seemed like this was the first time he had the opportunity to enter the Palace on Lunar New Year’s Eve
This athered on the square, overnment officials with their wives and children, but there were also local big merchants, as well as diplomatic envoys and barbarian merchants from abroad
Whether it was the palaceand dancing female perfor plants swaying in the breeze, in gauzed open-work silk, flowing ereen jade, and fullthe unbounded tenderness and glorious beauty of the Lunar New Year’s Eve banquet that night
On the stage by the entrance to the public square froroups ofLe [peace and security joy (or music)], Chuxi Le [lunar new year’s eve], and other fa of bells and dru-the-new atmosphere between the Lunar New Year’s Eve and the New Year’s Day
Fro/prince] rank, Li shi+ the various groups ere chatting and joking with each other to come over to wish hi at this, it was obvious howand Yuanji pushi+ng hi him
As a result, the Heavenly Policy Mansion’s party was also dispersing; everybody was scattering around, looking for people they were fa realized that Bu Ting and Bu Jie also disappeared to nobody-knohere However, he felt his ears pure and peaceful instead [idio away from the filth and unrest of the world]
Thiscah, “Let’s move aside and talk, shall we?”
※ ※ ※
The City of Chang’an becaht Each and every family was decorated with lanterns and colored banners Thechildren who nor out into the street to welcoing nonstop Affluence fa a feast, allowing anybody passing by to co rode on the carriage together with Chang He, Mei Xun, and the Sha Fajiu, three rance?”
Chang He asked in surprise, “Wasn’t Luoyang like this as well? In Chang’an, every Lunar New Year’s Eve, the Palace lighted Chenxiang [Aquilaria agallocha (Agarwood)] and Tanmu [sandalwood] in a bonfire, which will burn until daybreak, so that the scent per was speechless “Theya lot of incense wood?” he asked
Mei Xun laughed and said, “At least a hundred carts of incense”
Just by looking at Mei Xun’s expression thisknew that his suspicions on hiot out of the bath barrel to return to his roorant tracks already disappeared, hence he did not have any chance to ask whether she did swap his Moon in the Well with the fake article for hi his identity uncovered, losing the Moon in the Well, which he was accustoes joined the traffic heading toward the Vermilion Bird Gate, the uards at the gate uests one by one, they could notasked Mei Xun, “What are the arrangeht’s banquet?”
Mei Xun pushed the boat with the current [idioe of the situation for one’s own benefit]; he said, “On this, Chang Daren isHe said, “Based on usual practice of previous years, we should have banquet first and dance later The banquet is the Taiji Palace’s courtyard banquet and standing banquet held in the public square After all, the seats in the Taiji Palace are li banquet could acco, the standing banquet is much more fun than the banquet at the palace courtyard Not only it is , s up”
Sha Chengjiu asked, “The dance you are talking about, is that the Great Nuo Dance to exorcise the de He replied, “The dance will start at the xu hour [7-9pht] The Nuo Dance chases the plagues from the Palace one by one; it will be repeated three tiues and inauspicious deate, and then the torches will be cast into the Yong An Canal at the Yue Ma Bridge, so that the plagues and demons will never turn over At the same time, the moment we enter the zi hour, the two firecracker toill be ignited The sound of firecrackers will spread throughout the city, the flash and the smoke will soar into the sky; very spectacular Afterwards Huangshang will drive out of the Palace and circle around the city, to welco to that, inwardly Kou Zhong was greatly delighted According to Chang He, the banquet ought to finish before the Great Nuo Dance on the xu hour By that time the Palace would be in confusion, so that if he, this fake divine doctor wentas Chang He did not go looking for hiht
“Xiaoren loves to enjoy the excitement the most,” he spoke in low voice, “Is it possible for me to skip the courtyard banquet in the Palace? Xiaoren is serious”
If he asked that question before Mei Xun examined his saber, it would definitely add more suspicions But thishonest and showing his true nature Laughing, he said, “If Mo Xiansheng skipped the courtyard banquet, Shengshang and Niangniang would be disappointed”
Chang He nodded and said, “This , just do Xiaodi a favor: as long as you make an appearance for acould leave early”
His objective was reached, i with joy He and Hou Xibai agreed to try asShe’s New Year’s Eve fa as he could get away from the courtyard banquet in the Palace early, they would have plenty of ti’s battle against Ke Dazhi, he was not worried at all; no matter how formidable Ke Dazhi was, it would still be very difficult for hi with hi a butcher’s cleaver with ease [idio skillfully and easily]
※ ※ ※
Everybody all around was happy and excited, bri-the-new holiday at, it was like they existed in a different die is talking to ht be suspicious?”
Li Jing spoke heavily, “Theya way to deal with Ke Dazhi Ay! Ziling, do you realize that you are puttingsaid, “I wonder if Dage is aware ofasked, “What Yong Qin?”
Inwardly Xu Ziling was greatly astonished, realizing that Li shi+ with him to even the closest of his subordinates This was probably due to his cautiousness, but it was more likely that he did not dare to trust anybody
After explaining everything to Li Jing, Xu Ziling said, “Dage, please set your heart at ease We have a secret agree; for each day that we have not taken the Duke Yang’s Treasure away, there will still be friendly and cooperative relationshi+p between us”